In many wireless communication systems, a frame structure is used for data transmission between a transmitter and a receiver. For example, the IEEE 802.11 standard uses frame aggregation in a Media Access Control (MAC) layer and a physical (PHY) layer. In a typical transmitter, a MAC layer receives a MAC Service Data Unit (MSDU) and attaches a MAC header thereto, in order to construct a MAC Protocol Data Unit (MPDU). The MAC header includes information such as a source address (SA) and a destination address (DA). The MPDU is a part of a PLCP Service Data Unit (PSDU) and is transferred to a PHY layer in the transmitter to attach a PHY header (i.e., a PHY preamble) thereto to construct a PLCP Protocol Data Unit (PPDU). The PHY header includes parameters for determining a transmission scheme including a coding/modulation scheme.
Many battery powered devices such as cellular phones and consumer electronic (CE) devices are being provided with the capability to access high throughput WLANs. An efficient method of scheduling uplink and downlink frame transmissions between an access point (AP) and stations in a WLAN can reduce power consumption and benefit battery powered devices.
Conventional power saving solutions are inefficient because a receiving station continues receiving and decoding data symbols of an incoming frame, even if the incoming frame is not intended for that receiving station. This is because such conventional receiving stations do not examine the frame PHY/MAC header of incoming frames at a per-frame level. This leads to unnecessary power consumption at the receiving stations. There is, therefore, a need for an efficient power saving mechanism for WLANs in general, and for high throughput WLANs, in particular.